Get More From Exercise Machines

The typical hard-core lifter looks at exercise machines and thinks: worthless. But that's not fair. The problem isn't with the machines; it's with the lifters.

Most men—if they use a machine—don't venture beyond the faded directions that were slapped on in the factory. Trouble is, an exercise machine circuit repeated day after day, year after year, is about as challenging as the workout routine of a fit 60-year-old woman.

Exercise variety is the path to better and faster muscle and strength gains—which is why serious lifters head for the free-weight room, where the iron isn't attached to contraptions and the variations are endless.

We offer a third option: new operating instructions. This article will show you how to make exercise machines work better for you. You can use these strategies as training tools in your free-weight routine, or to add juice to your tired machine workout. The end result: more muscle.

Change Your Body PositionMost machines have a fixed path of motion, meaning your first lift and your tenth are identical, says Alwyn Cosgrove, C.S.C.S., owner of Results Fitness in Santa Clarita, California. This can lead to "pattern overload syndrome," similar to carpal tunnel syndrome. You need to challenge your muscles from a variety of angles.

The Benefit: You'll build bigger muscles and avoid overload syndrome. • When using "sit-down" machines such as the leg extension and seated chest press, adjust the seat position by an inch, up or down, between sets. • On the leg-press and squat machines, place your feet farther apart or closer together. • On machines that have multiple handles—the shoulder-press and row machines, for example—alternate your grip between palms facing forward and palms facing each other.

Don't Brace YourselfImagine that there's wet paint on the support pads of the machine, says Gunnar Peterson, C.S.C.S., a trainer in Beverly Hills, California.

Do Single-Arm NegativesThis means overloading your muscles during the eccentric—the lowering—portion of the lift. Choose a weight that's about 60 percent of the amount you can lift five times, and push the weight up normally.

At the top of the move, pause, then remove one arm from the handle and lower the weight as slowly as you can. Do four sets of five repetitions, switching arms each set.

The Benefit: This can lead to greater muscle growth than you get from conventional lifting. But limit it to once a week, says Cosgrove. Heavy eccentric training causes more muscle damage than normal lifting, so your muscles need longer to recover.

Extend Your SetsTry this on biceps and triceps machines that have separate handles for each hand. Choose a heavy weight that you can lift only six to eight times with one arm. When you can't perform one more repetition, grab the other handle with your opposite arm—so you're using both arms to lift the weight—and do eight to 10 more repetitions.

The Benefit: Greater growth, because you'll exhaust the muscle fibers in the first arm, says Tim Kuebler, C.S.C.S., a trainer in Kansas City, Missouri. Do four sets, alternating the arm you start with each time, every 4 days.

Or try combining a biceps and triceps workout by alternating exercises and arms, so that you do a right-arm curl, left-arm extension, left-arm curl, and right-arm extension. Rest for 60 seconds, then repeat one time.

Finish with Drop SetsOn your last set of an exercise (free weight or machine), perform the same move on a "selectorized" machine such as Nautilus, Universal, or Cybex. Start with the most weight you can lift six to eight times and do as many repetitions as possible. Immediately drop the weight by 20 percent and do six to eight more repetitions, then drop the weight by 20 percent again and do a final six- to eight-repetition set.

The Benefit: Your muscles will be forced to work harder than ever before, and you'll gain strength, says Peterson.

The Benefit: "It forces your muscles to work against both vertical and horizontal resistance," says Michael Mejia, C.S.C.S., Men's Health exercise advisor. Here's how: Put a weight bench in the center of a cable station, perpendicular to the machine. Select fairly light weights on both weight stacks. Fasten a pair of ankle straps to your wrists and hook the straps to the low pulley of the cable station. Grab a pair of dumbbells (have them handy!) that are half the weight you'd usually use, lie on the bench, and hold the dumbbells at the sides of your chest. Perform a standard dumbbell press by pushing the dumbbells up and in, until your arms are straight and the dumbbells are almost touching.

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